1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video recorder housing having a pivoting gate permitting a backbone or rear side of a videocassette fitted in the housing to be seen from the outside of the video recorder.
2. Related Arts
Referring to FIG. 6, a video recorder housing 1 has a cassette slot 2 formed within its front side for inserting and removing a videocassette 3 from the housing 1. Housing 1 has a pivoting gate to close and open the cassette slot 2. When loading the video recorder with a videocassette, the cassette is applied to the gate to push the gate open.
The videocassette is then pushed forward onto the cassette guide to be lowered and placed on the reel stage. FIG. 7 shows how the videocassette 3 is positioned inside the video recorder. In the loading position, the videocassette 3 is positioned on the reel stage behind the cassette guide 4 to be flush with the lower edge of the cassette slot 2, thus putting label 5 of the videocassette 3 out of sight for an outside observer. In this position, the label 5 of the videocassette 3 cannot be seen even if the gate 6 is opened fully. Label 5 of the videocassette 3 cannot be seen without taking the videocassette 3 out of the housing 1. Alternatively, the videotape may be played back to see the title of the recorded program. In any event, once the videocassette has been loaded into the housing 1, it cannot be immediately confirmed which videotape is in the video recorder.
To reduce the above described inconvenience, the cassette guide 4 may be notched to provide a chamfered end 7, thereby permitting observers to see the label 5 of the video cassette 3 from the outside. Alternatively, a transparent gate may be used to allow observers to see the cassette inside the housing. Use of the transparent gate, however, causes some adverse effects on the function of the videotape recorder because of invasion of the surrounding light inside the recorder. Additionally, it is a common practice in the video recorders industry to print a brand name of the manufacturer on the gate of the housing. However, no such information can be printed on the transparent gate 6.
Japanese Patent 9-274790(A) discloses a video recorder housing using a transparent gate and an information-bearing gate, both pivoted at the front and rear, respectively, of the cassette slot. The transparent and imprinted gate are so operatively connected that a videotape cassette loaded inside the housing may be visible through the transparent gate, while the imprinted gate is pushed up and laid on the upper surface of the videocassette. When no videocassette is loaded inside, the information printed on the rear gate may be seen through the front transparent gate. One of the disadvantages of this double gated structure is that its associated actuator mechanism substantially increases the manufacturing cost of the video recorder.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention is to provide a video recorder housing having a pivoting gate permitting a backbone or rear side of a videocassette fitted inside the housing to be seen from the outside.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a videocassette-observable video recorder housing without a substantial increase in the manufacturing cost of the video recorder housing.
To attain these objects a video recorder housing having a pivoting gate to open and close the cassette slot for inserting and removing a video cassette from the video recorder, is improved according to the present invention. The improvement to the housing is in that a housing gate has an engagement projection formed at its one end, which engagement projection is adapted to be engaged by a provided rotary lever of the housing. This construction enables the gate to rotatably raise toward its opening position by the rotary lever when the lever turns upwards.
The gate further has a movable hook so fixed onto the rear side of the gate that the movable hook may partly appear from a lower edge of the gate when the hook is placed into its descending position. The hook may have a rotary arm integrally fixed thereto and allowing the movable hook to partly appear from the lower edge of the gate when the arm is rotated about its pivot. The hook may be vertically movably secured to the rear side of the gate allowing the movable hook to partly appear from the lower edge of the gate by moving the hook downwards.
When it is desired that the backbone of a loaded videocassette was visible from the outside, the movable hook is rotated or pushed down to partly appear from the lower edge of the pivoting gate. The videocassette is then inserted into the cassette slot by pushing the pivoting gate open wide enough to allow the videocassette to enter the housing. The movable hook caught on the upper surface of the videocassette keeps the pivoting gate in the raised position leaving a lateral space between the lower edge of the cassette slot and the lower edge of the pivoting gate. This lateral space is sufficiently wide to expose the label of the loaded videocassette. Insertion of the videocassette into the housing of the video recorder with the movable hook withdrawn and hidden behind the gate allows the gate to close the cassette slot completely.
The above and other objects, aspects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the description of the preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.